Flirting with disaster
by Morgan Bell
Summary: M.A.R.A is a program loaded into the brain of a woman. She's a weapon made by humans that will bring the vampire society to extinction. How will the Society fight her when she knows every little bit of information about them?


"I know there's evil in the world, and there always has been. But you don't need to believe in Satan or demons to explain it. Human beings are perfectly capable of evil all by themselves."

"We are all descended from monsters."

-Tess Gerritsen

* * *

Marah backed away from the window, right before the large shadow that loomed above her dived headfirst into it and landed in the middle of the room. Out of the shadows, a pair of eyes stared menacingly right at her face. The eyes of the devil. A black hole parted under them, letting out a pungent smell that made her stomach flip over. "Now I got you."

Over six feet of stunning grace came her way, slowly. Step by step, without touching the shattered glass on the floor, she tried to put some distance between her and the horrible creature. A smile lingered on his charcoal lips, secretive, as a preview of what was to come.

Marah's breath turned frantic, short and fast, and the burning inside her chest pushed to the front of her mind an amalgam of thoughts, his thoughts. They rose up all around the room like whispers and came back to her as a whole. They bore the body of a single dire word: DIE!

An icy snarl ripped through the fog before her eyes but it touched her skin like a metal blade and cut deep into her chest, pushing beneath bone, causing havoc to her center of power. With a quick blink, the humming energy in her brain retook its toll. Her ankles slid between the molecules of air, causing a visible ripple that didn't even pull his gaze from her face. He was ready to strike, she sensed it inside his body. He was getting prepared to lower to the ground, bend the knees and tense the muscles enough to push the weight against her own body and make her hit the wall. Still, on the outside, he looked relaxed. The steps were short, just to keep some distance, and both hands were placed in her line of vision, sending a peaceful message.

He was taking his time, she realized. She backed off on shaky legs and he came to stand where she stood a second earlier, compensating her own movement.

The moon outside sent its cold rays through the broken window and washed them in a silver light, making the shadows deeper and wider, transforming the glass on the ground into sparkling diamonds. Beautiful, but sharp enough to draw blood.

Marah could feel the hairs on her neck stand up just as her eyes rolled back to his and noticed that those black tunnels were centered on her, unmoving and intimidating, in contrast to his body language. If she looked close enough, she could see a trembling figure, small, pushed back in a corner. Herself.

With a single movement backwards she hit the wall. At the same time, something moved inside the blackness she stared into, shadows pushing through shadows to get to her. Marah stood there, waiting for him to make the first move.

_I am going to die. What did I do? I am going to die. What did I do? I am going to..._

He chuckled and flung his fingers in her direction, daring Marah to move.

_Am I going to die?_ His eyes twinkled. _I'll die._ The ghost of a horrendous laugh echoed all around her, enveloping her in thorns.

_No, I'm not going to die._

This was taking longer than she expected, but the power in her wouldn't reach full level fast enough. He breathed in, showing the first signs of annoyance at her cowardice.

_Come on, come on..._

With brows furrowed in suspicion, he looked as if he tried to figure her out... "What's going on in that little head of yours?"

_Come on, come on, come on! _Maybe she grimaced, or maybe her shoulders flinched at the sound of his raspy voice, but suddenly darkness slit through the features on his face and Marah's stomach tightened at the thought that he will lunge.

_Come on, already, come ON! _With a panicked yelp, she slapped the wall hard. Nothing but a barely present numbness bit into her flesh. _Please, do it, Marah!_ She did it again. _Come on! _Then again.

_Come... _

And then again,

_ON!_

Until pain traveled up her arm and finally registered into her senses. _Yes!_ It was the fuel she needed.

He growled and barred his teeth at her, lounging at her without hesitation and her jaw clenched in anticipation.

_No, you won't._

The second his chest pushed forward, something sizzled. Marah gulped away the fear and rose her chin defiantly. Even though she couldn't risk heaving a sigh of relief right now, hope flared to life beneath her sternum. The barrier of energy sparkled to life, illuminating both of their faces in a blue hue.

Slamming a hand down on the glass-like energy caused drops of azure liquid to smack on his face. Once they did, they evaporated. Under his palm, the blue matter waved as it struggled against his growing pressure.

He rose an eyebrow at her, questioningly, ironically. All she could do was to avoid his glare and focus on the palm that threatened to pass the barrier, the single obstacle that separated Marah from her death. The only thing she could hear was the rhythm of her heart. She felt it in the tips of her fingers, inside her bruised wrist, down to her cannon bone. Nothing made sense, anymore, but the fact that if she looked close enough, the matter would start to take the form of his fingers.

_Keep it up, Marah._

It molded further and further with a remarkable slowness, but it affected the barrier to such extent that it made her throat close around the oxygen she tried to inhale in dread and horror. _No._

He tsk-ed at her. This pulled her orbs from their target to the sheer irony in his. She was beyond scared, almost hysterical.

Time died down to a ticking sound. The silence became pregnant, awaiting for the catastrophe to happen. He was there, inside her apartment, in the same room with her. She couldn't find any feelings of reassurance in the mental archive she kept at the back of her brain, and every fiber in her body tensed in awareness, imminent danger planed over her head.

The reality of the situation came crashing down. She was going to die.

Marah's eyes snapped open and almost as suddenly, a wet cloth was placed upon them. The liquid seeped through her eyelashes and soothed the burning.

"Doctor, there was a glitch and the A.I. closed the program. The subject is coming back to its senses."

Marah tried to push aside the material from her eyes, but something kept her hand strapped to the freezing table. A different voice broke through the darkness and at the same time, she felt one of their needles pierce her vein.

"Start again."

Her head swoon and then she was back in the shadowy room, watching the window and the large body behind it.


End file.
